NPAC (Nuclear/Particle/Astro/Cosmo) Forums |
Organized by: Prof. Lu Lu
Events on Thursday, June 9th, 2022
- Measuring the neutrino-nucleon cross section at ultra-high energies: detailed forecasts for IceCube-Gen2
- Time: 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm
- Place:
- Speaker: Mauricio Bustamante, Niels Bohr International Academy, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
- Abstract: Ultra-high-energy (UHE) neutrinos, energetic (> 100 PeV) but rare, have evaded detection for decades, but might soon be within the reach of upcoming neutrino telescopes. With them, we could measure for the first time UHE neutrino-matter interactions, allowing us to probe protons and neutrons deeper than before and to look for new high-energy physics. We present detailed measurement forecasts of the UHE neutrino-nucleon cross section, geared at radio-detection in IceCube-Gen2, with the aim of informing its science capabilities. We use state-of-the-art ingredients throughout: in the neutrino flux, in-Earth attenuation, Askaryan radio emission and propagation, detector modeling, and non-neutrino backgrounds. After 10 years, if at least a few tens of events are detected, we could measure the cross section at center-of-mass energies of 10-100 TeV for the first time, with a precision comparable to that of its theory prediction.
- Host: Lu Lu